Art Center College of Design will be launching their first TEDx event on Saturday, June 9, 2012.
The one-day event will be held on their Hillside Campus in Pasadena, California. The event's theme? "Design a _______ for Social Impact." The blank in the title is a call to action designed to inspire TEDx attendees to find their own way to effect positive change.
An impressive lineup of speakers, including Doug Powell, national president of the AIGA, and the individual spearheading the association's Design for Good initiative; Dr. Cameron Tonkinwise, chair of Design Thinking and Sustainability at Parsons The New School, whose current research is exploring design-enabled sharing of resources; and let's not forget Core77 Editor in Chief, Allan Chochinov—who will be filling in the blank, with the word "blank."
Two Art Center students, Erik Molano and Mariana Prieto, have spent the last year growing their partnership into a team of more than 25 students. With the help of Art Center administration, they were able to pitch the idea of a TEDx college studio course. Within 3 months, the class became a reality. Applications for the transdisciplinary TEDx Studio came pouring in, and the course received entries from 6 different undergraduate and graduate departments.
"Our challenge, in one semester, was to curate a memorable and unique experience," said Molano. "As a class, we asked ourselves: What does it look like when Art Center takes on a TEDx event? And the bigger question was, Why do the topics of social impact and sustainability have a place at a design school?" Molano and Prieto point to the groundbreaking work that Art Center's Designmatters department has achieved over the past decade. They also believe the speakers and the attendees will answer that question themselves through their participation.
"TED believes in spreading ideas, and Art Center teaches us how to implement them," said Prieto. "It seemed natural for us to put these two organizations together and to create the first TEDx event at our school."
Want to attend? The event takes place on June 9th.
Check out TEDxArtCenterCollegeOfDesign at: www.artcenter.edu/tedx.
